Delhi to revise COVID-19 pandemic management plan

NEW DELHI: Given the rapid increase in the number of positive cases in the National Capital, the Centre has asked the Delhi Government to redefine containment zones. The Ministry of Home Affairs suggested changes in the state government’s approach to deal with the pandemic on the basis of a report presented by a committee led by Dr VK Paul, Member, NITI Aayog. Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS Delhi; Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), were also part of the committee. The meeting, which was held on Sunday, was chaired by Amit Shah, Union Home Minister, while it was attended by Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister, Delhi Government; Manish Sisodia, Deputy CM; Anil Baijal, lieutenant governor of Delhi; Harsh Vardhan, Union health minister, amongst other senior officials.

The key recommendations for Delhi by the Centre were: A better containment tactic to be developed; contact tracing to be broadened; antibody testing; better utilisation of police to enforce social distancing. Moreover, it was also recommended that an epidemiologist be employed at district level to improve healthcare services. For better contact testing, better use of Aarogya Setu and Itihas apps should be done.

The recommendation also included conducting a serological survey among 20,000 people between June 27 to June 7. Associating each district with a specific hospital was also suggested. Further, the home ministry suggested that Delhi Government must also assess each death and report back on each patient’s status after being admitted into a hospital.  If the deceased was earlier in home isolation, whether they were brought to the hospital in time must also be key.

The Delhi Government has been asked to fix a timetable to develop a plan by today, June 22, establish district level teams by the next day and delineate all containment zones by June 26 and surveys by June 30. The State Government will also be conducting a large-scale survey by July 7.